Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Crusaders of Shadows
by DarkFoxKit
Summary: Two humans turned into a Pikachu and an Eevee, are thrown into a world where there are no humans, Pokemon turning into vicious monsters called Shadow Pokemon, and a legendary who brought them there by accident. Will two inexperienced human-turned-Pokemon be able to stand up to the shadows... or fall victims themselves? Read this story and find out.
1. Chapter 1: Two Pokemon

_**DarkFoxKit: Hey readers! I'm making another co-op story, and this was more of a request than anything else. Meet my partner here, ConstructCritical!**_

_**ConstructCritical: It wasn't a request… I asked you if you wanted to rewrite that Sonic Fanfiction you told me so much about - very interesting and I still want to do it - and then you just went like 'Hey! Let's do Pokemon Mystery Dungeon! :D' and I was just like 'K'.**_

_**DarkFoxKit: The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was just meant to be a story for fun. It was your request that I post it… I was gonna have you post it, but you want ME to do it, so, yeah, it's a request.**_

_**ConstructCritical: *grumbles* Fine, you win. But for anyone who reads this, you might want to stop, it's not very good. It's awful, so you should probably stop here, I mean, it's my first story, so just saying that should make you not want to so you should probably stop here-*gasps for air***_

_**DarkFoxKit: Oh please, I've written most of it. Let's let the readers decide if they like it or not. Now try not to be too harsh, Crit here is… very sensitive.**_

_**ConstructCritical: I LIKE CORNDOGS! *grins widely***_

_**DarkFoxKit: … And apparently half insane… yeah… well anyway… Neither of us own Pokemon, we just do fanfiction for fun. NOW READ IT!**_

_**ConstructCritical: AND I DID SO WRITE A LOT! I wrote… a few paragraphs - at first… but I started writing more as we went along!**_

* * *

_**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon**_

_**Crusaders of Shadows**_

**Prologue: Two Pokemon**

In a dark forest, while raining, a Mew was flying fast… she was trying to get away from something. She seems frantic and injured… what is she fleeing from? Out of breath, she used her last remaining strength in a powerful Psychic attack, which blasted into the sky and ripped a dimensional hole… and out of that hole came two falling 'stars'.

The 'stars' turned out to be a couple of humans, one boy and one girl, however, their bodies were glowing and they were changing… and shrinking… the boy turned into a Pikachu while the girl turned into an Eevee and both of them landed into the forest, near a cave.

They slept soundly, completely unaware of the strange occurrence the night had to offer. Nothing made a sound, aside from the steady _pitter-patter_ of the rain. Mew had come and gone, but now, the night held its silence once more, save for the soft, gentle sound of the rain.

Eventually the Eevee began to wake up, her ears twitched at the sound of what sounds like… snoring? _That's odd… I don't remember falling asleep next to Dad again…_ She opened her eyes and was shocked to find herself in the middle of a forest… at NIGHT! She jumped to her feet, but fell, not expecting to being forced on all fours.

"What!? WHAT HAPPENED!?" she shouted, turning around frantically, scared. She then noticed a Pikachu beside her._ … Wait… I've got to be dreaming, right? Why is there a PIKACHU beside me?_

The Pikachu also began to stir. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, not knowing what had happened. He opened his eyelids to see that the 'hand' he had been using to rub his eyes wasn't a hand at all. It looked more like a paw, and… yellow? He looked over to find an Eevee hyperventilating. Maybe she could unlock some mysteries about his yellow paw?

The Pikachu slowly pulled himself up, realizing that it wasn't only his paw that was yellow, but his whole body, too! The 'yellow' turned out to be his FUR and he was _covered _in it!

The Eevee noticed the Pikachu was awake and gulped, "U-um… h-hi there?" she wasn't sure if the Pikachu could even understand her… because she knows she can't understand Pokemon.

The Pikachu looked over at the Eevee again, noticing that she had said something, _a greeting_, he thought to himself. He stood up on his two legs, before wobbling onto all fours. He looked at himself in a puddle the rain had made. He looked like a... Pikachu? Or at least, that's what it seemed like.

_Had his friends played a trick on him?_ He didn't even remember having any friends. In fact, he didn't remember anything in general. "Uh, I know this sounds crazy, but I'm not a Pikachu. At least, I don't remember _being_ a Pikachu…" He said as his voice trailed off.

The Eevee looked at him before she looked down at herself, seeing her 'hands' were actually paws now… and that she was covered in brown fur, and a very fluffy cream color fur was on her neck. "... You say you're not a Pikachu… what do I look like to you?" she asked him.

He stared at her blankly for a second. "You, look to be an Eevee. Unless I'm seeing things, which could also be true." He said, hesitantly. He also thought she seemed lost, not to mention, he thought every Pokemon knew what they were from birth. _Except me. _He thought to himself bitterly.

"An Eevee?" she said, tilting her head. "... Oh, so_ that's_ what I look like now…" She noticed that he was staring at her and she quickly explained, "L-like you I'm not supposed to be an Eevee… I went to sleep as a human girl and woke up as an Eevee!" she frowned as her fur was getting wet in the rain. _Now I know what wet Lilipup feels like!_

He glanced at her. "Uhm, that's nice and all, but I'm wet, and I want to get out of the rain. Coming?" He asked her, trying to sound more upbeat than the situation made him feel.

"U-uh…" the girl Eevee frowned as she tried to stand up on her two hind legs, but failing. "I'm not use to walking like… THIS." she tried to walk forward but fell on her face. "Ow!"

The boy tried to stand on two legs, wobbling a little but being able to stand. _I guess Pikachu are better at walking on two legs. _He thought. He took a step, but started to fall backwards, and in a last ditch effort, planted his tail into the ground to stop his fall. He got down and decided to simply walk on four paws.

* * *

_**ConstructCritical: *adjusts the Corn Do-I mean Camera* So how bad was it? Scale of one to corndog?**_

_**DarkFoxKit: We won't know until they review the story, stop freaking out and stop saying corndog! It's annoying!**_

_**ConstructCritical: Really? CORNDOG CORNDOG CORNDOG! Feeling annoyed yet?**_

_**DarkFoxKit: No… but the readers might and put up a review just to tell you to shut up! Ugh… honestly, the nerve of some people!**_

_**ConstructCritical: Yeah, the nervousness of some people. You're right, I am getting kinda nervous. PLEASE LEAVE A NICE REVIEW OR I WILL CRY! NO SERIOUSLY, I'M NOT KIDDING. I'LL ALSO ANNOY KIT, SO YOU MIGHT WANT TO LEAVE A NICE REVIEW.**_

_**DarkFoxKit: You're already annoying me. *grumbles* Come on, let's go, we've got to let the readers review now.**_

_**ConstructCritical: But they probably want to keep hearing me tal-*camera cuts out, fading to black***_

_**Staticky Mysterious Robot Voice: That's the end of the show, please review!**_

* * *

**_DarkFoxKit: *sighs* …_**

**_ConstructCritical: *waves* Hi! Okay, everyone hide! She's coming! Shhhh! *dives under a table* And somebody turn off the lights! *darkness fills the room* Thanks!_**

**_DarkFoxKit: *draws something on a piece of paper before walking off*_**

**_ConstructCritical: Noooooo! Wait, you're supposed to come over he-*realizes he was yelling and slams his mouth shut*_**

**_DarkFoxKit: What do you want, Crit?_**

_**ConstructCritical: Err… Happy Birthday! Uh… surprise…! *hangs his head* Rats. That flopped.**_

_**DarkFoxKit: …. Who told you it was my birthday?**_

_**ConstructCritical: Mew. She seemed happier than usual. You know, how she is when she's about to vaporize you, starve you, or torture you.**_

_**Mew: … She never did that to me, I did that to her!**_

_**DarkFoxKit: Look, I appreciate the thought, really, but I rather you don't annonce what day it is, okay? *looks around nervously***_

_**ConstructCritical: Yeah… Right… Right… EVERYONE WISH FOX A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! *grins at the screen* MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDARS! MAY 1ST! DON'T FORGET IT!**_

_**DarkFoxKit: *grabs Crit's throat and begins strangling him until he turns blue* YOU ARE A BIG MOUTH, INSENSITIVE MORON!**_

_**ConstructCritical: Yeah-*choke* Happy! *choke, gasp* Birthday! *choke***_

_**DarkFoxKit: *Growls before dragging Crit into a nice, dark closet and closes the door, with the unsheathing sound of metal being made.***_

_**Mew: ….. Uhhh… enjoy the story while these two… um… talk.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1: First Exploration**

Eevee grumbled as she just crawled into the cave. "I'll try to learn to walk later… when it's not raining." she said before she looked at the Pikachu. "So… do you have a name?"

The Pikachu nodded as he walked into the cave on all fours. "It's.. I… I can't remember." He admitted to her sadly.

Eevee frowned, "You… can't remember? … How odd… well… so… do you want a nickname or do you just want to be called Pikachu?"

The boy Pokemon sighed, he didn't know. He didn't want to be called simply 'Pikachu' all his life, if he had to stay a Pokemon. He looked around, and closed his eyes. He suddenly felt like he knew what to say. "Could you please call me Crit?" He said, finally.

Eevee nodded, "Okay, Crit… but that's kind of an odd name… was it from a pen name or something?" but he only shrugged. "Okay, I guess it doesn't matter. My name is…" but then she frowned. "Uhhh…" _Crud! Now I can't remember my own name! This really bites! _"I feel stupid… I can't even remember _my own_ name!" she blushed harshly, feeling embarrassed.

'Crit' smiled cockily. "Welcome to the club, sister." He said in a mocking voice, as if it was a joke.

But he didn't expect Eevee to looked at him like she was offended, "Don't talk to me like that please… I already feel foolish enough as it is." she seems to be the sensitive type. "B-but… I guess since I look like a little fox creature… just call me Kit."

Crit looked down, kicking up some dust. "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Kit. Here, have a rock. He'll make you feel better." He told her jokingly, handing her a pebble that had markings that reminded him of a smiling face.

"..." Kit only gave him a curious look. "... You… like to joke around a lot?"

Crit only smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, it's a bad habit. I get bored easily." He told her.

"I see…" Kit said. "I guess I don't mind a little bit of jokes…" then she looked outside, it was still raining. "But… first thing's first… where are we? Why are we here? Why are we Pokemon?"

"And, why can't we remember anything?" He added.

"Yeah… that too… I mean it's weird, I can remember basic knowledge like the grass and trees and sky and stuff like that, but I don't remember much of anything from my life… just that I was human and I have a Mom and Dad." Kit said, feeling frustrated with her lack of memory. "... Do you remember anything at all, Crit?"

He looked at her gravely, any signs of happiness gone. "My memory is as foggy as yours. I can't remember anything. If I did, I would tell you, because I don't have anyone else to talk to." He told her sincerely.

Kit sighed at this, "Guess we're in the same boat then…" suddenly both of their ears twitched as they heard something outside. "What was that? It sounded like a dog growling…"

Crit looked over. "Maybe we're in a Pokemon's territory. If we are, I don't want to stay here. We don't even really know how to use our attacks, assuming we have any, since we're not even real Pokemon." He suggested.

Kit stood up again, she trembled on her own four paws, "I-I don't know how to walk like this… m-maybe whatever's out there is just angry to be out in the r-rain?"

The Pikachu hesitated for a second, not entirely sure how to comfort her. He put his paw on her and patted her on the back. "I'm sure we'll be fine. We can hide behind those rocks over there until morning." He said to her, pointing to a formation of large rocks.

The Eevee was about to say something when she noticed something outside… it looked like shadows of Houndour and other creatures she couldn't identify. "U-um… C-Crit… there seems to be a LOT of them… and I think there's something wrong with them… they look way too hostile to be normal… I-I think we better get deeper into the cave… just to be safe."

Crit looked back at the mouth of the cave and gasped. "I think you're right. I just hope they don't intend to follow us all the way down. I'll help you." He said, letting her lean on him.

"Th-thanks, I'll try to get use to walking on all fours like this." Kit said as they began walking in deeper. The Eevee was trying her best to learn to put one paw in front at a time, trying to remind herself it's not too different from walking with two feet, just that she has twice as many to put forward.

"I'm sorry if I'm slowing us down." Kit apologized to the Pikachu supporting her.

Crit shook his head. "I don't want you to die, because if you do, I'll be alone and no one will have any idea what I'm going through and they'll think I'm crazy. Or at least they will if anyone is still left who isn't out for our blood." He said, bitterly, before quickly adding "I mean, I doubt anything like that would happen." He said, hoping she doesn't cry.

"You rant a lot when you're nervous." Kit noted. "It's fine… I'm not too scared about that…" she wobbled a bit. "I just wish I could walk better."

The two humans-turned-Pokemon went in deeper, both were surprised how long this cave is. Then they stopped when they came across a Rattata, it was hissing at them.

"A Rattata? What's it doing in here?" Kit wondered. "I think they're supposed to live in fields, not caves…"

"Well, it is rainy, and we didn't want to be in the rain. Maybe the Rattata didn't want to, either?" Crit suggested. "Maybe we can ask it for help?" He asked to no one in particular. He slowly let Kit down while he walked over to the Rattata. "Uh, we're sorry if we startled you…" He started.

The purple mouse creature looked at the Pikachu before speaking, "You don't appear to be one of them…" he said.

Kit blinked. _What? What did that Rattata mean by 'one of them'? Did he mean like those Pokemon we saw outside the cave?_

Crit scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out what the Rattata meant by '_one of them_'. "Uh, could you explain to us what you're talking about? We're from… out-of-town." He said, trying to make a simple excuse for why they were here as Pokemon.

The Rattata answered, "... You two… never heard of Shadow Pokemon before?" he seemed genuinely surprised. Both of them shook their heads and he said, "... You guys must've been living under a rock or something… the entire world is plagued by the Shadow Pokemon."

"Please, if it's not too much trouble, could you tell us what's going on?" Kit asked, hoping the Rattata would explain.

"Well I-" Rattata suddenly stopped and seem to be on high alert. "... Shadow Pokemon are coming… there's no time to explain, just know they are dangerous. We need to get out of here, now, hurry!" he ran off ahead of them.

"W-wait!" Kit called, but the Rattata was long gone.

"We have to hide." Crit said hurriedly, he quickly grabbed Kit and made a break for it, trying as best he could to follow the Rattata in the darkness. "I can't see a thing!" He told her, as if anyone couldn't tell.

"Stop running! We'll hit something!" Kit yelled.

And just like that… they ran into something alright, and it was a Zubat. It screeched angrily at them as it hit Crit with a Wing Attack, who was in front of Kit.

"C-Crit! Are you okay?" Kit called. "I heard you got hit by something! I can't see anything though!" _I'm starting to wish one of us was a Charmander or Chimchar, at least their fire tails can light up this place!_

Crit's body started sparking with electricity. He wasn't very happy with this Zubat. The light from his body was enough to light the area, and once he caught sight of the Zubat, he wished that he could hit it with one good Thundershock. He growled at it, and lunged, hitting it with all the Electricity he had, which wasn't very much. The Zubat seemed to be pretty hurt, even by his miniature Thundershock.

"WHOA!" Kit jumped by instinct, scared that the Thundershock would hit her too.

Zubat was hurt, but it wasn't done yet, it then flew at the Eevee since she didn't have any electric powers, so it used Bite on her tail. Kit yelled out in pain, running around in a circle like how a Growlithe chases its tail, which is odd since she's not use to walking, let alone, running on all fours.

"OW! OW! OW! PAIN! PAIN! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" she screamed as she smashed her tail and the Zubat into the wall, getting it off her. "My poor tail…" she licked the tip of her injured tail. _Never thought I'd be saying that…._

Crit ran up to her in concern. "Are you okay?!" He asked her frantically. He wasn't sure why he was so worried about her. _It's just that I want someone to talk to._ He convinced himself, but something inside him told him that it was more...

Kit groaned a bit and said, "I'll be fine, but that really hurt! … Where's the Zubat?" She turned to see the Zubat had fainted after she smashed it into the wall, combined with its weakness to Crit's Thundershock, it wasn't surprising it had fainted.

Crit ran over to the fallen Zubat, he slightly nudged it with his tail while he stood back. Once he was sure it was down for good, he put one of his hind legs on it and stood on two feet. He put his hands on his hips and smiled cockily, then said "And stay down!"

Kit noticed the cave was more lit after he had used Thundershock, perhaps it was a way of using Flash? "... Um… not to rain on your parade of victory, Crit, but shouldn't we keep going? Didn't that Rattata say those Shadow Pokemon are coming?"

Crit's expression paled a bit. "Oh yeah, we should probably get back to running for our lives, huh?" He asked her sarcastically.

"Yeah… I think I'm starting to get use to walking like this, so it should be a little faster." Kit said as she began walking on her own, she still wobbled a bit, but at least she's not falling on her face anymore.

The two ventured deeper, but they were getting tired as they weren't use to walking for so long, and they were getting hungry.

Crit's stomach growled. "Lemme guess. No snacks?" He asked her, sighing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't bring any snacks with me when I was transferred into the body of an Eevee." Kit grumbled before tripping over something red. "Oof! Ow… Why do I keep falling on my face?" she grumbled before turning around to see she had tripped over an apple. "... Okay… it was odd enough to see a Rattata in a cave, but an APPLE too? There are no trees here!"

Crit lunged for the apple. "O, great and powerful Mew I know it was you who gave us this apple because this apple is red." He said jokingly.

"Mew? Not Arceus?" Kit blinked. "Most people believe Arceus is the 'Pokegod' of the Pokemon World instead of Mew nowadays." she sighed. "And uh… you _are_ going to share that apple, right?"

"Yeah, I was, and now shut up before I eat your half." He told her jokingly, while trying to cut the apple on a sharp rock. "And look, if Arceus really created all Pokemon, how could Mew be the ancestor of all Pokemon? Arceus probably created a few Pokemon, but the stories of him being the 'god' of Pokemon? Trubbish." He explained to her.

"Oh I'm not disagreeing with you there, I don't really think Arceus is the 'Pokegod' at all, but everyone else kept saying he is… at least according to my faint memory that's all I heard. I personally prefer Mew." Kit explained as Crit managed to slice the apple in half.

"Yeah - Mew, we know you're the actual one calling all the shots!" He yelled, pretending Mew could hear him. As he sliced the apple, he gave a half of it to Kit, while keeping the other side to himself. Despite how much he just wanted to wolf it all down, he ate it in small bites, as to make it last longer.

"Well, at least it's good and not rotten." Kit said as she chewed on her apple. "I just hope those Shadow Pokemon aren't close to us, we could use a break."

"Of course it's not rotten. Mew sent it." He said, rolling his eyes like it was obvious. "I wonder if it's daytime up on the surface." He questioned of his Eevee companion.

"It's hard to tell in a cave… I hope we can get out soon." Kit said.

Then suddenly, a Nidoran female came over to them and looked angry, "You! You ate my apple! I lost it while I was in here and now I find that you two ATE it!" she stomped on the ground in anger.

"W-whoa! We're s-sorry! We just thought that-" Kit started to say.

"Are you thieves!? Do you know how hard it is to forage for food with all those Shadow Pokemon running around!?" the Nidoran growled.

Crit glared at the Nidoran. "Suuure it was your apple. If it was _your_ apple as you say, I don't see how anyone would be so stupid as to leave it alone. If they really are as hard to come by as you claim they are, I can't imagine anyone leaving an apple alone for a second!" He shouted at the Nidoran.

But the Nidoran didn't back down, "I was being CHASED you moron! I'm small, and do you know how HARD it is to hold onto to an apple while you're being chased? I don't exactly have talons that could get a good grip of it! When I finally lost my pursuer I was trying to find the apple I lost!"

Kit quickly got in between them, "Let's not fight here… we're not the enemy, okay? We were hungry and we just happen to pass by an apple here and we ate it, look, we'll try to make it up to you."

Nidoran glared before she said, "... You two don't look like you're strong… can you really make it out? Just so you know… there's a Pokemon at the end of this cave… if you want out, you'll have to fight them and they're not pushovers. If you want to make it up to me, then battle me, I want to test your skills first."

Kit blinked, not expecting that, she turned to Crit. "... Uh… What do you think, Crit? I don't know how to fight…"

"Could you give us a second?" He said, not waiting for a reply. He quickly grabbed Kit and they huddled up. "I guess you would know Tackle, since it's a very common normal-type move. I think you can figure out how to do that. Also, you have already used an attack, I guess we can call it Flail, since that's all you were doing." He said.

"Really?" Kit blinked. "Huh… I guess it's an instinct thing… Alright… I guess we could try to fight with the Nidoran."

Nidoran spoke up, "Are you two ready yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, hold your Ponytas." He called to her. "Okay, I'll try to weaken the Nidoran, once I have weakened her, I'll probably be kind of worn out. I want you to finish her off, okay?" He told the little Eevee.

"O-okay… I'll try." Kit said nervously.

The Pikachu and Eevee walked over to the Nidoran, "Finally, let's battle."

Nidoran jumped over Crit as he used Thundershock, she dodged it in the air, and used her horn to hit him, it was secrete with venom however, so she used Poison Sting!

"C-Crit!" Kit yelled in concern. "Did you get poisoned?"

He felt a tingling sensation in his body. Simply moving pained him. "No! I'm fine!" He lied to her.

"B-but you don't look so good!" Kit said, gulping.

Nidoran smirked as she ran over at the Eevee and used Double Kick to her face! Since Double Kick is a Fighting type move, it was super-effective on a Normal type like Kit!

"OW!" Kit cried. "THAT HURTS!" she glared in anger. "Why you little-!" she instinctively rammed herself at Nidoran, pushing her back, she had just used Tackle in retaliation.

Nidoran then used Growl on both of them, lowering their attack power. That was bad for Kit since she only knew physical attacks.

"That growl was kinda… cute?" Crit said very quietly, confused with himself.

Kit shook her head, feeling a bit frazzled, but the battle itself was starting to thrill her a bit more. "Oh yeah? Well don't think Growling will save you!" she turned around and began wagging her tail cutely at the Nidoran, lowering its defense.

The Pikachu was powering up his Thundershock. It still hurt to move, but he jumped up and put the rest of his power into it, hoping to get this over with as soon as possible.

Kit used Tackle while Nidoran used Double Kick, both attacks caused the two girls to hit the ground. Crit ran over at the Nidoran while she was down, seizing his chance.

"Pi..**ka...CHUUUUUUUU**!" Crit shouted as he fired off his Thundershock, a critical hit on the Nidoran.

Nidoran shouted as she fainted, defeated. Kit weakly stood up, tired and hurt from the battle, but she gave a smile.

"Well… Mr. Sparky, looks like we won." Kit said weakly to the Pikachu.

Crit started to walk towards her to help her walk, but as he trotted over to her, he just stopped, and blacked out as he crumpled to the floor of the cave, the poison finally taking its toll.

The Eevee jumped when he suddenly fainted, "C-CRIT! Oh no! NO! HE WAS POISONED!"

Nidoran groaned as she got back up, "Yeah… but don't fret so much, I didn't make it fatal, he'll be out for a few minutes, but he'll come to again."

Kit looked at her, the Nidoran was no longer hostile. "..."

Nidoran chuckled, "I wanted to test you two… see how well you can fight and to work together… You both seem pretty rough around the edges, but I can see potential in you both."

"What about that Pokemon we have to fight?" Kit asked her.

"There isn't any, well to be more accurate, _I_ was the Pokemon you needed to fight." She smiled, gesturing to the exit of the cave.

"... You did this to test us?" Kit frowned. "That doesn't make much sense… why would you?"

"I'll let you know why once your friend wakes up." Nidoran said.

* * *

**_DarkFoxKit: Well, at least the birthday cake is good. But now I feel old and everyone's gonna call me 'old lady' soon. *dark cloud glooming over her head*_**

**_ConstructCritical: Well, if you were old, you would be retired and you would have more time to write! Bright sides!_**

_**DarkFoxKit: Retired from WHAT!? *grabs him* You know what? I'm gonna add a special ingredient to this cake. *she put Crit's head into the frosting***_

_**ConstructCritical: *pulls head out* Well, I'd say this has been a hands on experience, but I'm far to aHEAD for that to happen!*rotten tomatoes start being thrown at him* AHHHHH! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEE!**_

_**DarkFoxKit: You better be happy that I avoid using the shrink ray on you, or you'd be in my cake next. *hisses* Stupid birthday, stupid age, stupid annoying Crit! *kicks table***_

_**ConstructCritical: I'M SORRYYYYYYYY! JUST DON'T LET ME GET DIRTY FROM THESE TOMATOES! I HATE GETTING DIRTY!**_

_**DarkFoxKit: *smirks as she takes out a gun full of rotten tomatoes* You do huh? FIRE AWAY! *fires the gun at Crit's mouth to shut him up***_

_**ConstructCritical: *dodges and gets inside battle mech and powers it up* Surrender! I have you surrounded!**_

_**Mew: *laughs* And that's the story of how a girl's birthday party turned into a battle mech fiasco. The End. *closes the story book before throwing cake at the camera.***_

_**ConstructCritical: *crawls out of the story book* Ow! W-what was that for, Mew?! *sigh* Okay, blah blah blah, I like corn dogs, review, and wish Fox a happy birthday. She feels embarrassed about it, so make sure to make it a huge deal! This is her birthday, May 1st, so again, mark it on your calendars and never leave her alone about it!**_

_**DarkFoxKit: Somebody's gonna die soon if they do.**_

_**ConstructCritical: Uh, I'll just be leaving now… *tiptoes away* RUN AWAAAYYYYYY! *makes a dash for it, while the camera fades to black***_


	2. Chapter 2: Joining the Team

_**ConstructCritical: *is sitting on his bed, before sighing* They all hate me.**_

_**DarkFoxKit: What? Who all hates you?**_

_**ConstructCritical: The readers. I quote; "Crit, you're an idiot." and then we have "*duck tapes Crit's mouth shut and throws him in a closet with a pack of Houndoors*" and let's not forget "...But a bit insane on Crit's part…"! Why are people so mean? *sniff***_

_**DarkFoxKit: Oh just relax, people just do that because of your crazy AN and how you reacted in them. Plus there might be some fanboys that just don't like it when others try to give me a hard time, heck they even gave MEW a hard time.**_

_**ConstructCritical: No one seemed to complain when Key joined up to make SoK, but when I come along and try to have some fun, I get rotten tomatoes and hate. I know! If I just don't say anything, then no one can hate me! *takes a zipper out of his pocket and zips his mouth shut***_

_**DarkFoxKit: Well to be honest, I was the one torturing Key, not the other way around… So he's more of a 'lovable victim' then a 'hate hyperactive author'.**_

_**ConstructCritical: *unzips mouth* Y-you mean… YOU HATE ME, TOO?! *cries and runs off into the other room***_

_**DarkFoxKit: *Follows Crit into the other room* I don't HATE you… you just… annoy me a lot. Look, maybe you should try to calm down, maybe then you wouldn't get so much hate, okay?**_

_**ConstructCritical: If I annoy you then you should just leave me alone! *slams the door in Kit's face***_

_**DarkFoxKit: …. Uh… uh… *turns to camera* H-hey readers… um… maybe you were a little too hard on him… he may be hyperactive but he's pretty sensitive… so uh… erm… just read.**_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Joining the Team**

After about ten minutes… Crit began to wake up, feeling a headache from the poison wearing off.

"Just five more minutes, mom! I don't want to go to school yet…" Crit said, before fully waking up, realizing he wasn't human, and that he wouldn't be for a long time, if ever.

"Crit! I'm glad you're awake! You had me worried!" The Eevee hugged him suddenly.

Crit raised an eyebrow and grinned sheepishly. "You were worried about me?" He said cheekily.

"Yeah! I was worried you might not wake up…" Kit said, blushing a bit as she realized she hugged him.

Nidoran chuckled, "You two are pretty strong, I can see a lot of potential in you both. Now you just need some training to help refine your battle skills."

Crit stood up and nodded determinedly. "That's what we're going to do. We're going to become as strong as we can be. Do you know of somewhere we could go to train… and… why are you being so nice to us? You just poisoned me." He said as the thought dawned on him.

"She said she did it to test our skills." Kit said. "But I don't know why, she wanted to wait until you were awake before explaining it to us."

Nidoran nodded, "That is correct. You see… I'm a part of an organization of trained Pokemon who are going against Shadow Pokemon. I'm supposed to find potential recruits. Have either of you two heard of it?"

Crit shook his head. "No we haven't, we're uh, from out of town… but I mean it's probably secret anyway so how could we have heard about it?" He said, trying to put a fake grin on his face.

Nidoran looked at them curiously, "It's not really all that secret, but it is hidden to keep the enemy out. Well it's called P.A.S. which stands for Pokemon Against Shadows. But when someone goes out on a team, we just refer to them as Crusaders. Now the P.A.S. has hidden headquarters all over the world, trying to find potential Pokemon and train them, and trying to help and save other Pokemon from the Shadow Pokemon. Even simple requests gets answered, but those are for the lower ranks so they can get use to it."

Kit seemed pretty fascinated so far, "Wow… that sounds pretty cool…"

Crit just glanced over. "Doesn't sound that great to me. I mean, you said you were running from Shadows when you lost your apple. If you were a Crusader, why didn't you fight them? Or why didn't you beat us? We aren't very strong, you know. This 'P.A.S.' sounds like a bunch of Trubbish." Crit criticized.

Nidoran shook her head, "Don't be so quick to judge, hot headed Pikachu. If I was truly defeated, I wouldn't be conscious right now, I took it easy on you both since it's my job to find any Pokemon that can potentially be recruited, not beat them to a bloody pulp. And second of all, that story of the Shadows chasing me was only a cover up story, the real story is; I used the apple as bait for any wandering Pokemon, then I fight them to see if they're worthy to be a member."

"Okay, then I want an apple." Crit said hungrily. "You at least owe that to me if you poisoned me." He reasoned.

"You'll get food, but I wasn't lying when I said food is pretty scarce right now. The P.A.S. has enough to feed everyone though." Nidoran said. "Do you two want to join? I won't force you if you don't want to, but it's the safest place to train, sleep, eat and socialize with other Pokemon."

"Well…" Kit looked over at Crit. "What do you think, Crit? We… don't really have anywhere else to go… and if we were left to fend for ourselves out there, we could die…"

Crit nodded. "I think it's a good idea. If for no other reason than to get three meals a day. Although I also want to train to be the best I can be!" The Pikachu exclaimed excitedly.

"That's a good answer!" Nidoran nodded. "Alright then, you'll have to follow me, the P.A.S. would only allow another member inside since it's hard to trust just any Pokemon nowadays."

Kit and Crit nodded as they followed the female Nidoran outside the cave, glad it has stopped raining and it seems that the morning sun was coming up.

"Good news; Shadow Pokemon don't often come out during the daytime as they dislike light, but that doesn't mean they're not out there, so watch your step." Nidoran explained. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Nidogirl… don't go making fun of it, it's how I like to call myself."

Crit chuckled a little but stayed mostly silent.

"Oh, well I'm Kit." The Eevee introduced while they were walking.

"I'm Crit." The Pikachu said simply.

"Okay then, will you two be forming a team of each other or on different teams?" Nidogirl asked as they were coming to a pond.

"Like with different Pokemon?" Kit asked.

"Yup."

"Uh… well I'd be more comfortable if I stuck with Crit…" Kit said. "I just… don't feel comfortable working with someone I don't already know…"

Crit nodded. "And some of the things we've been through only the other could understand." He explained.

"Okay then, do you two have a team name in mind?" Nidogirl asked. "And if another Pokemon wants to join your team, will you let it?"

Kit, not feeling comfortable to answer, looked to Crit. "... I think so…" she said timidly. "I mean if another Pokemon wants to join… that'd be helpful…"

Crit nodded. "Yeah, we're willing to let another Pokemon in, but… nevermind." The Pikachu said biting his lip. "As for our team name, I have a few ideas..." He looked over at himself and Kit… a Pikachu and an Eevee…

"Like what?" Kit asked, looking at him.

"Team… Evoshock." He glanced at Kit to see her response.

"Team… Evoshock? You mean because I'm an Eevee and you're a Pikachu?" she asked as he nodded. "... Huh… not bad, I think it has a nice ring to it."

Nidogirl said, "Good, keep it in mind when they register you two. We're here." she gestured to the pond.

"Wanna take a swim?" the now-hyper Pikachu asked his Eevee companion.

"... I don't think we're supposed to _swim_ there." Kit said.

The Pikachu nodded sadly. "Alright..."

"No, just gimme a minute." Nidogirl said as she began scratching the ground. "If you swim there, all you'll see is water, rocks and Water Pokemon." then she tapped the ground a bit and nodded. "Okay… in three… two… one…"

Suddenly, a large stone-like building came out of the water! Both Kit and Crit fell on their backs in total shock!

"How long has _that_ been there?!" A certain shocked Pikachu exclaimed.

"WHOA! I think my heart just stopped for a second…" Kit gulped.

"This is one of the hidden headquarters of P.A.S., we use codes so they know to let us in." Nidogirl explained. "Surprised, huh?"

Both Pokemon nodded slowly, as they began to slowly inch towards the large stone structure.

"Hold on, there's one more code we have to say." Nidogirl said as she walked forward. "'Mew is our ancestor, we work hard to find her and she watches over us.'"

And with those words, the doors opened up. Nidogirl smiled, "Ready? Come on."

Both Crit and Kit gulped as they nervously followed the Nidoran into the huge stone structure. As soon as they entered, the doors closed and sank back into the water.

"This place is big." Crit said blandly, still astonished.

Nidogirl was leading them down a stony hallway, but it was a lot drier and fancier than they were expecting, there were even torches on the walls. "It has to be, in order to house all the Pokemon down here."

Then she opened another set of doors and the two human-turned-Pokemon were almost overwhelmed to see different types of environments all in one huge room; mountains, caves, plains, water, forests… it was like a dream world all in one house! "We have environments for every type of Pokemon."

"... Is it just me or is this starting to look more like a vacation than a military training camp?" Kit said, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open in awe.

"Uh, this is all very nice and good, but, uh, where can we eat? We haven't eaten since that apple, and before that we hadn't eaten since, uh, since, we left on this journey! Yeah.." He said, trying to sound convincing while still trying to convince himself.

"You'll eat soon, just be patient. Stay close to me while I lead you to the cafeteria, you don't want to get lost here now do you?" Nidogirl said as she lead the two.

Along the way, Kit and Crit saw a lot of strong and evolved Pokemon passing by, many of them which seems to be on their own teams and a high rank.

"I'm sure I'll evolve into a powerful Raichu one day, and you, Kit, get so many options to choose from! You can become a mighty Jolteon, an electric type like me! Or you could become a powerful Flareon, or a shadowy Umbreon." He said, starting to get excited. He had never thought he would evolve, he was human, after all, he wondered what it felt like.

Kit looked at him and said, "... Well IF we ever do evolve, I wouldn't know what to pick. And besides, you could evolve whenever you want once you find a Thunderstone."

"Yeah… but enough of that! Let's eat!" He said happily.

Nidogirl opened another set of doors and walked in, "This is the cafeteria, where Pokemon gathers to eat or mingle. The food staff is over there, you can pick what food you want. We have all sorts of food for different Pokemon, so just pick whichever you like."

"Uh, I know this is an odd question but, uh, do you have any… human food? I uh, like to try stuff that normal Pokemon wouldn't eat…" He said, while trying to make it not sound like he thought Pokemon food was gross.

"Human food?" Nidogirl blinked. "... What are 'humans'? Is that a new type of Pokemon?"

"Oh, uh, why… yes! I think they may be extinct though, so I guess I'll never meet one. I just uh, like what they used to eat!" He lied.

"Crit!" Kit hissed in his ears. "You might as well have a big sign that says 'I'm not really a Pokemon!'"

"Well just look around and see if you find anything you like." Nidogirl said. "We have fruits, gummis, hot dogs, pizza, pasta-"

"Wait… aren't those human food?" Kit asked, feeling confused.

"Well, assuming we knew what Human food was, of course! We just like asking people if they know what they ate. Hehe…" Crit lied… again.

"Oh… well we just like to eat a lot of different food. So go ahead and take your pick." Nidogirl said. "I'll wait for you at a table."

As Nidogirl walked away, Crit facepalmed. "Sorry Kit, I didn't mean to give us away." He admitted to her sadly.

"I almost gave us away too… but listen, we can't be too picky and say something that's human related from now on, okay? To them, we're Pokemon and that's all we are, so try to think like a Pokemon." Kit said.

"We're Pokemon, yes, but we're not only Pokemon. We still have a bit of humanity. We are still human in our minds. We can't forget our own heritage." Crit reasoned.

"Don't worry, we won't, but we must've been sent here for a reason… and we don't want to be discovered, so try to play it cool okay?" Kit said. "Now then… anything you want to eat here?"

"We'll talk more later. Anyway… I must have Pasta!" He shouted that last part, while he bolted for the Pasta. He quickly filled his plate and doused it all in tomato sauce.

Kit was having trouble some trouble. "Ummm… how do I pick up a plate like this? I only have paws, no hands…"

Crit sighed. "Alright, I'll carry it for you," trying to balance on two legs with a plate in each paw. "What do you want, Kit?" He asked.

"Oh uh… thanks. Get me some fruit and pizza, I don't want to eat too much." Kit said timidly.

Crit nodded and put the requested items on her plate. "Should we go sit with," muffled laughter, "Nidogirl?" He asked before bursting out in laughter at the name.

"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Nidogirl growled.

Kit flicked Crit's ear with her tail. "Hey! Be nice! At least she didn't make fun of _your_ name Mr. Critical!"

"Well that's 'cuz I have a really cool name." He explained to her, while keeping his head high. "Sorry, Nidogirl!" He called while trying to keep his laughter under control. "But seriously, where do you want to sit? I'm not sure if I should sit with Nidogirl, though, because she is ready to kill me." He told her.

Nidogirl stormed over to him and grabbed his ear, "Get over here!"

"I guess we'll be sitting with her after all." Kit chuckled.

"AH! AH! AH! Please let me go so I can say hello to the Shadows because they would be better than her…!" He called helplessly as he was dragged away.

The three sat at the table and began eating. Nidogirl was looking up at a clock and said, "Listen, after you eat, I'll take you to the registration room. Once you get registered, they'll assign you a room to sleep in."

The new 'recruits' nodded. "Alright, but uh, is there some kind of entrance exam or something, or was the battle we had with you exam enough?" The human-Pikachu asked.

"Well they will want to test you two, but that'll be for later, so no there's no entrance exam once a member admitted you in." Nidogirl explained. "Once registered they'll explain to you the rules of being a Crusader, like ranks and badges, they'll even give you a bag for you to keep your items safe."

"Alright, well, I'm done eating," Crit said, looking down at his empty plate. "Are you ready, Kit?"

Kit nodded, "I'm ready and kinda excited, but also nervous."

Nidogirl smiled, "Alright then, follow me you two."

They followed the Nidoran down the hallway again, passing by more Pokemon. Some were small, unevolved and weak like they were, while others seem average or powerful. Nidogirl lead them to another room. "Ah, here we are."

Ahead of them was a Grumpig behind a desk, it seem to be doing some paperwork. "Oh Nidogirl, you're back." it said.

"Yes, and I've found two new recruits." Nidogirl said, gesturing to the Pikachu and Eevee.

Crit quickly got on two paws and stood at attention, while adding in a salute for good measure. "Hello, sir." He greeted 'formally'.

"Enthusiastic I see, little Pikachu. Alright, since you two are joining, I'll be needing you two to answer my questions... Are you joining together?"

"Yes, we are." Kit nodded.

"Alright… And what is your team name?" Grumpig asked.

"Team Evoshock, Sir." Said the 'little' Pikachu, while keeping his stance.

"Okay, and what is your reason for joining P.A.S.?" Grumpig asked them.

"Because we have nowhere else to go…" Kit started to say.

"And well, we don't have any family as far as we know, and if we help rescue Pokemon, maybe we'll find a way to get back to them." The Pikachu said.

Grumpig wrote down the answers on paper and said, "Okay, so you two will start off in the Training Rank."

"Rank, sir?" Kit asked.

Grumpig nodded, "Yes, there are ranks, you start from the lowest of course. Training Rank, Normal Rank, Bronze Rank, Silver Rank, Gold Rank, Platinum Rank and Master Rank. There IS a rank above Master, it's called Legendary Rank, but only one set of team of Pokemon managed to achieve such a rank, so don't get your hopes too high." he put a stamp on the paper. "Okay, you two are now Crusaders, Team Evoshock! Here is your room." he gave them a paper chart.

"Room 524…" Kit read aloud.

"Thank you sir, and we will work our hardest, and someday, we will achieve the rank of Legendary." Crit said, the determination high in his voice.

"Yeah, you and every newbie says this." Grumpig grumbled. "Well just get to your rooms. The rules will be explained once you settle in, the Training Ranks are not to leave the headquarters until they achieve Normal Rank."

"Yes, sir." Crit said, a hint of anger in his voice, as he began to walk out. "C'mon, Kit."

"Wait, where do we find Room 524?" Kit asked.

"Just follow me, but you two better memorize this place down." Nidogirl said.

Crit rolled his eyes. "You'd think they'd have a map of this place." He said, joking a little.

"Sorry, but memorizing this place is part of training too, for your mind." Nidogirl explained. "This place is pretty strict after all."

Nidogirl lead them back into the Environment Place and lead them both to the plains. "Ah, your rooms are right here."

Kit and Crit blinked… there wasn't even a door, it was a large spot of grass with some haystack beds and a big fruit basket. "But this is…"

"This will be the place you two will sleep. You can decorate this place if you want, but for now it'll have to do." Nidogirl said. "Why don't you guys get settled in? I'm sure your mentor will arrive shortly once they get the memo you've joined the Training Rank."

"But… she's a girl… she needs privacy…" Crit said blushing.

"So? A boy Pokemon and girl Pokemon can sleep with each other, what's wrong with that?" Nidogirl asked.

"Nothing… nothing…" Kit said, trying to hide her own blush.

"Yeah. We'll be… _fine…_" He really wanted to go out and say _Of course we're not fine, we're not Pokemon!_ But that would have been odd.

"Alright then you two, I have to go now, so good luck." Nidogirl said as she left them.

* * *

**_DarkFoxKit: *knocks on the door* Oh come on Crit, it's been a few hours already! The readers are done with the story, you know, unless they just skipped to the bottom of the AN… but still, get out already!_**

**_ConstructCritical: No! You said I annoy you, so locking myself in here will keep you from being annoyed! Now you can live your life without me being here to annoy you!_**

**_DarkFoxKit: Well you being stubborn and being locked up IS annoying me right now! … If you don't come out… you won't get any of the lifetime supply of corn dogs Mew gave to me~_**

**_ConstructCritical: *complete silence* CORN DOGS..! *the door slams open, hitting Fox in the head, causing her to pass out* O.O_**

**_DarkFoxKit: X_X_**

**_ConstrutCritical: *shoves Fox's body into the closet quickly* No one saw that… *makes a dash for the kitchen* Mew! Where are those corndogs?!_**

**_Mew: Oh sorry, but you've been a bad boy and knocked out our beloved author… you get no corn dogs~ *teleports away*_**

**_ConstructCritical: Oh no… *looks down at the review box, thus breaking the fourth wall* NO! PLEASE STOP TYPING THAT REVIEW! PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU! NOOOOOOO...! *shaking camera and goes static*_**


	3. Chapter 3: Training

_**ConstructCritical: *is wearing a paper bag, with crayoned armor chainmail* Hark! Tis' a tale of the great Sir Minccino of the Shiny Order! Henceforth, we rideth on thy quest for glory, and HONOR! *runs off, unsheathing a wooden sword***_

_**DarkFoxKit: …. Crit? What the heck are you doing!?**_

_**ConstructCritical: Whom is this 'Crit' that you speak of, maiden? I shall slay the terrible beast and reclaim the glory of this doomed kingdom!**_

_**DarkFoxKit: …. *tilts head as if having trouble understanding him* What beast? What kingdom? This is just the stage for the AN! … Did you take too much medication again?**_

_**ConstructCritical: I have set forth on mine own quest to sa- … we… we're live… aren't we? *blushes in embarrassment***_

_**DarkFoxKit: …. Yes, we are. What were you doing? Practicing for some play or something?**_

_**ConstructCritical: I can't help it if I'm naturally attuned to Shakespeare. I was just… uh… you know, practicing for my end of the year school assignment…**_

_**DarkFoxKit: Riiiiiight…. *picks up something* Look Crit, I have a corn dog!**_

_**ConstructCritical: Pfft, corn dogs are so last AN. Baklava is all the rage for third ANs. Have you been living under a rock or something?**_

_**DarkFoxKit: ….. *begins reading a dictionary* … No pastries for you.**_

_**ConstructCritical: *Ye Olde English voice* Nay, foul monster! Thee shall be slain by morning's first dawn, and the whole city will rejoice and enjoy delicious Baklava! *charges at Fox, tackling her***_

_**DarkFoxKit: BWAH! *THUD***_

* * *

**Chapter 3: Training**

Kit looked around, "Wow… I've never had the meadows as my… 'house' before, it's so weird… yet it's so cool at the same time. Look, there's even a berry bush growing over here." she looked at the berries. "There's Oran Berries, Pecha Berries, Prisim Berries…" then she turned back to Crit. "I could get use to this."

Crit nodded. "Still can't get my mind off the subject of you sleeping with me. Do you want me to pile up some haystacks around you?" He said, apparently changing the subject from berries.

"It's fine… the haystack beds are decently far away from each other, so we're just roommates, nothing more and nothing less." Kit said, trying to reassure him. "Try to think of it as your pet dog sleeping with you instead of a person."

Crit nodded, but still, it was going to be a very awkward night. At least Pokemon don't change clothes. "Should we pick some berries for breakfast tomorrow? I think grown berries would taste better than something we could find at the cafeteria." He commented on the earlier subject.

Kit then looked a bit nervous, "There _is_ one thing that bothers me… how will we use the bathroom?"

The boy-Pokemon stared at her for a second. "Err. I don't see any way other than the bushes. I'm sure everyone else here would be weirded out by our dilemma. It's natural for them. I'm kind of glad we're on a team together, it would be awkward saying 'I gotta go, I'll be right back' before diving into the bushes." He told her.

"Yeah… I suppose so. At least the bushes will give us some privacy when we need it." Kit said. "Okay… so now what? Do we just sit here and wait for our mentor?"

Crit nodded and sat down on the soft grass. "I wonder how they made grass inside a building."

"Maybe they grew them here, I mean I saw a lot of Grass types here too so maybe they did it." Kit said.

Then someone stepped into their 'room' and said, "Okay… Crit the Pikachu and Kit the Eevee, Team Evoshock, am I right?"

The two Pokemon nodded to the newcomer, which was a Lucario, to both of their surprises. The Lucario nodded, "Okay, you two are the newest recruits then, so I will go over some rules…"

"Um… s-sir?" Kit raised her paw.

"Hmm? What is it?" Lucario asked.

"I have two questions… one… what's your name? And two… what are Shadow Pokemon exactly?" the Eevee asked.

Her Pikachu companion nodded excessively in unison with the second question. They both had been wanting to know the answer ever since their first encounter with the Shadow Pokemon at the mouth of that cave.

Lucario looked at them and said, "You two want to know about Shadow Pokemon, eh? Well alright… We don't really understand a lot about Shadow Pokemon ourselves or where they originated from, just that they came out of nowhere one day and plagued the world. A Shadow Pokemon is a Pokemon that shut the door to its heart… or so they say, but there's more to it than that… these Pokemon were brainwashed, because some use to be our friends… and they get a dark purple and black aura around them, their eyes are lifeless and you can just feel the hostility in the air. They are vicious and fighting machines, they will not stop until you're either dead or become one of them."

Both Crit and Kit gulped, they didn't like the sound of that.

"It's extremely difficult if not impossible to reason with them… once a Pokemon becomes a Shadow Pokemon they no longer know who you are anymore, they only care about their own kind and hunt down anyone who isn't." Lucario said. "To this day… only a couple of Pokemon were turned back from being a Shadow Pokemon, but they're treated as outcasts since many fears them, and fear creates hate."

"So what you're saying is that… if you become a Shadow Pokemon you're screwed, even if you are somehow saved, you'll be thrown out of society?" The normally cocky Pikachu asked anxiously.

"I know it's hard, but we're hoping to have the Pokemon accept them again. They have experience of being Shadow Pokemon and that intel could help us immensely, but… the problem is… they are too traumatized to remember much of their time as Shadow Pokemon, so they spend most of their time in Therapy with Dr. Hypno." Lucario explained.

"I… see." The Pikachu said, nodding slowly.

"That sounds scary…" Kit shivered.

"Yes, it is… and at the root of it all is the one who rules the Shadow Pokemon, but nobody knows who or what they are, just that they are powerful." Lucario said. "Now then… if you want to know my name, just call me Auro."

"Thanks for the info, Auro. Do you know how we can become the Normal Rank?" Crit asked quietly.

"Yes… you have to 'graduate' Training Rank. You do this by defeating three other teams in the Training Rank too." Lucario said. "But that's only for when the test starts, for now, let's go meet your fellow classmates, shall we? Who knows, maybe you two will find a friend or two."

"I doubt it." The Pikachu muttered.

"Well now…" Lucario flicked Crit's ear, "You're a very anti-social Pikachu I see. You'll never know until you try, now come on."

Kit couldn't help but chuckle while Crit was rubbing his ear. "Maybe you should stop making negative comments."

"Well I can't help it. It's odd making friends with Pokemon when I'm actually," His voice lowered significantly, being barely audible "A human."

"So?" Kit said quietly back to him, "Humans can make friends with Pokemon…"

Lucario stopped suddenly and opened a door, "Here we are."

The two saw six other Pokemon; a Bulbasaur, a Solosis, a Vulpix, a Pichu, a Totodile, and a very timid Abra, or maybe he was just sleeping in the corner.

"These are all the new Training Ranks too, so you two will fit right in." Lucario smiled at them.

Kit stayed behind Crit, she was very shy and wasn't sure what to say or what to do in new faces.

Crit glanced behind him. "Now look who's being the anti-social one. Come on out, I'm sure everyone will love a cute Eevee." He said, not really meaning cute in a romantic way.

"I just… don't want to… say anything until I know they actually like me…" Kit said nervously. "Last time I tried talking to someone I didn't know… they yelled at me to go away…"

Crit put his arm over her shoulder, a little nervously. "I'm sure everything will be fine, Kit. I never thought I'd be the one to encourage you to go and make friends, but, here we are!"

"I'm a loner." Kit said. "I may not remember much about my life but I know I was a loner."

"Well, you have a new body, so you might as well get a new lifestyle." He said. "Hey everyone! I'm Crit the Pikachu and this is my friend, Kit the Eevee." He said, projecting his voice across the classroom, gaining some odd looks from some of the students.

"What are you doing!? Don't announce yourself like that!" Kit hissed in his ears.

The Solosis was the first to go over to them… or rather floated to them. "Greetings, it is very nice to meet newcomers."

"We're _both_ very _pleased_ to meet you. What's your name?" The Pikachu asked, pretending to be social.

"I'm Cella, nice to meet you." The Solosis said.

The Bulbasaur slowly walked over to them too, sniffing them.

"Hello, Cella. I'm Crit, and this is my good friend Kit. She's very shy."

"I know who you are, you already announced yourselves." Cella said with a slight giggle. "Anyway… uh…" she looked over at the Bulbasaur.

"Normally I don't shout out like that, but I felt Kit here needed some extra… motivation to be friendly." Crit said with a sly smile.

Kit blushed and looked away, embarrassed that he said that.

"I see… well this is my friend over here." Cella said, looking at Bulbasaur. "Go on, introduce yourself."

The Bulbasaur nodded and said, "Hello, my name is Venus, dudes!"

Kit blinked, "... Did he just call us 'dudes'?"

"Hello, Venus." Crit said simply.

The Bulbasaur glanced over at the Eevee. "You look kinda cute, Kit, was it? A beautiful name for a beautiful little Pokemon!" He told her.

The Eevee blinked and looked at him, "... Um… thank you…?"

Cella used Confusion to bring Venus away, "I'm sorry about that, Venus is a bit of a… flirty type. He does to just about every girl he sees."

Although he tried to hide it, Crit was jealous, and he wasn't sure why. Surely he didn't… _like_ Kit, no that couldn't be it.

The Vulpix was next to introduce herself, "I'm called Starfire… that's it." she said.

Kit looked at the others who have yet to introduce themselves; the Pichu, Totodile and Abra.

As the Pichu walked up nervously, it seemed to be eying Crit. "Do you think I could become a Pikachu someday?" He asked shyly.

Crit glanced over at him, barely taking notice. After about a minute it finally registered that the Pichu had said something. His head darted to look at the Pichu, startling it a little. "Yeah. Of course you can." he told it, trying to hide his embarrassment from scaring the poor thing.

Totodile was hoping up and down, "Hello! Hello! Hello! My name is Chomps! It's very nice to meet you! Let's be friends! Let's work together! Let's play!" he was a little TOO hyper.

"Errr…" Kit backed away a bit. "Um… who's the Abra?"

Crit gripped her shoulder, trying to tell her to calm down. He quickly walked over to the Abra and poked it with his tail. The Abra seemed agitated for a second before disappearing. Crit looked around, seeing that he was now over on the other side of the classroom. "Cool."

"That's uh… Telek, he… doesn't say much, but he likes to teleport a lot." Cella explained.

Crit nodded. "Anyone up for a battle? I know we just met, but I want see how all of you fight."

"Not now." Lucario spoke up. "Don't be so eager, we're not here to battle each other right now. We're here to test your skills in an obstacle course."

"... There's an obstacle course?" Kit frowned.

Crit just crossed his arms and looked away defiantly. "Fine, let's go." He muttered.

Lucario lead them to the back of the room… where they saw a balance beam with spikes on the bottom, a tunnel… with some electricity sparking in there, a water filled with Carnavas, and a trapeze with a vicious looking Spearow.

"... Isn't this a little much?" Kit gulped.

The overly hyperactive Pikachu just ran around looking at everything excitedly. "Team Evoshock can't lose!" He shouted to himself.

"Will you get down from there!? You're making us look bad!" The Eevee hissed at him, who was standing on the balance beam.

Cella chuckled, "Talk about enthusiasm."

"You're just jealous because your little Eevee paws can't let you do Trapeze." He taunted at her teasingly.

Kit turned away, "... Mr. Auro, can we please do something a little less dangerous?"

The Pikachu got down from where he was and bounded over to Kit. "We'll be fine, we just have to, you know, not die." He said as if he was saying 'I'm going to take a walk.'

"Are you crazy!? Have you lost all sanity, Crit!? Look at those! We could die if we fall off that balance beam!" Kit hissed.

Crit shrugged. "I'll protect you." He told her, with a tint of red on his already bright red Pikachu cheeks.

Auro laughed, "Relax, okay? These things won't kill you. They're illusions, but if you fall or get hit, yeah it'll FEEL real, but it's not. You won't have any physical pain, but you will THINK you do, so try not to do too poorly."

"I still don't like this." Kit said, looking down.

Crit shrugged again. "We can do it together. The electricity in the tunnel won't bother me, plus, my Thundershock will do a lot of damage to the Carnavas and Spearow. We should be safe if we go together."

"You're not allowed to attack them, the point of this test is to dodge." Auro said. "If you attack, you fail."

"Trubbish. Fine." The short-tempered Pikachu responded angrily.

"Alright… now let's see how best your time is for getting through." Auro said. "If you fall off too much or attack, you fail. Ready? Go!"

Kit yelped as the other Pokemon got on the balance beam right away, but she didn't dare move.

The Pikachu got behind her and nudged her with his nose. "C'mon, Kit! Don't get too far behind!"

The Eevee shook her head. "I'm still not very stable on all fours, let alone on a freaking balance beam with SPIKES!"

"Hold on, I'll help you across." He offered, holding out his paw.

Kit gulped but nodded, not wanting to be so pathetic that she couldn't cross the first of the obstacle course, she took the Pikachu paw and he helped her up the balance beam. Auro gave a secret smile as he watched Crit helping Kit across.

Crit normally would have dashed across, wanting to be the first on the other side, but he didn't want to leave Kit, even if he was last across, he wanted Kit to be there with him on the other side.

Kit looked at the spikes and trembled in fear, but the comfort of her partner helped kept her from falling and they jumped off at the end of the balance beam, heading for the electric tunnel ahead.

"I think my fur would attract those electricity…" Kit said.

"I can just absorb it. It can't hurt me. Come on." Crit said, grinning.

Kit hesitantly followed Crit into the tunnel, she got zapped a few times, but she was surprised it didn't hurt too much, it did sting a little more than static electricity, but not so bad. She wasn't sure if it was because she's a Pokemon or if Crit's really keeping the electricity under control.

They quickly made it through without very much trouble. "See, that wasn't so bad." The hyperactive Pokemon told her, still grinning wildly.

"Alright…" she sighed in relief. "So… what's next?"

The Pikachu sweatdropped. "The 'water tank'. With lots of deadly water-types."

The Eevee paled and gulped, "We are so screwed… I don't know how to SWIM in this body!"

Crit only nodded. "I'll distract them. You keep going."

"No!" Kit hissed, slapping him with her tail. "We are NOT splitting up! Besides, I would only sink if you left me alone."

The Pikachu sighed. Not swimming was a drag. "I can teach you, but that's for another day. I'll go below the water and keep their focus on me, and I'll hold you up so you can breathe. Sound good?" He asked her, a little nervous that he would be face to face with angry Carvanas.

"I'm going to try and jump on those floating things." Kit said. "Otherwise I'll be eaten." she jumped without waiting for Crit's answer, she wobbled a bit but didn't stop jumping.

"You can do it!" The Pikachu shouted encouragingly as he jumped into the water and started swimming to the other side, mostly avoiding any unwanted attention.

But then Kit slipped and fell into the water with a SPLASH! The Eevee shut her eyes and began dog paddling like crazy, hoping to swim to the other side before the Carnavas try to get her.

Crit started swimming as fast as he could. Kit was staying above the water, but she wasn't going anywhere, and a Carvana was swimming towards her at an alarming rate. He just hoped she would find the floaty thing a few feet away.

Kit's paw touched something solid, she opened her eyes as she felt a bit more reassured and jumped out of the water and onto another floating object, barely missing the Carvana. She sighed in relief. "Almost there…"

He looked up in relief as he saw that Kit was out of the water, and then in alarm as the Carvana now had his eyes set on Crit. Crit was a decent swimming, but he didn't know anyone who could match the speed of a Carvana.

Kit's ears perked up when she heard Crit's sudden cries, she turn back to see the Pikachu flailing about with a Carvana at his face. The Eevee gulped but she jumped into the water, trying to relax. _Come on… just release that inner Vaporeon… just swim._ She began swimming towards them.

Crit couldn't use Thundershock, so he could do nothing except pound his fists into the Carvana, which barely gained an annoyed glance from it. "Let me go!" He cried. He noticed Kit was coming over. "Go back! We can't use any attacks! Just get to that side!" He called, hoping she would listen.

Kit didn't, however, as she swam towards them faster. She then used her tail to tickle the Carvana's fin, causing it to start laughing and letting Crit go. "Swim!" she yelled at him.

Crit grabbed Kit's paw and dragged her through the water, hoping she would know to keep her head on the surface. "Sorry." He tried to say, but his voice was muffled by the waves hitting his face.

The Eevee took his paw and said, "Come on, we're at the other side, there's just the trapeze left."

The Pikachu nodded, as they finally got to the other side. They were the last two, and it was kind of embarrassing, because everyone else got out unscathed.

"We suck…" Kit grumbled, seeing they were indeed the last one. "But whatever… how are we going to get passed this one?"

"Hopefully the Spearow won't know that this is simply an obstacle course, and it'll stay away from me and my Thundershock, but I think that's asking too much." He hung his head sadly.

"You COULD use your ability you know… Static… to make yourself look like you're going to shock him." Kit suggested.

Crit nodded, but kept his head low. "Yeah, but, I might hit you with Static..."

"I'll be fine, okay? There's plenty of Cheri Berries I can eat to cure the paralysis, but we can't get past this course if the Spearow attacks us. I… don't know if I can even swing on them with my paws…" Kit said, looking at her paws.

Crit nodded. "I hope you just don't fall off. I guess we better get going." He said as he ran up to the start of the trapeze course with newfound energy.

Kit watched as he prepared himself, the Spearow cawing threateningly. The Eevee gulped as she braced herself. "Okay… don't be scared… you'll be fine…" then she yelped. "I don't know if I can do this! What if we fall!?"

He glanced at her. "Then you should hope you land on me, then, huh?" He told her. "Just don't look down and we'll be fine."

The Eevee nodded and said, "F-fine, let's just h-hurry and do this before I T-Torchic out."

The two of them nodded as they both jumped and grabbed onto the swing.

Crit had to be careful to put one hand in front of the other, and to swing in perfect sync. As soon as he thought he got the hang of it he heard an unhappy sounding 'Caw!', and the fierce Spearow dived at them.

The Pikachu quickly started charging up electricity in his cheeks, acting like he was preparing to launch a Thundershock at it. At the last second the Spearow hesitated and flew off, preparing to come at them from a different direction. "A-Are you okay, Kit?" He asked the now-paralyzed Eevee.

"My fur… is fluffy… and static…" Kit said, twitching. "H-help me… get on… the next… swing… can't move… or feel… my paws…"

The hyper Pikachu bit his lip. _This is why I didn't want to use Static._ He thought to himself. He held onto Kit with one paw and used the other to swing. And it's not easy to swing on a Trapeze with one paw.

Kit then began licking her paws a bit, trying to move them. "C-Crit… can you… try to take back your own Static off me?"

Crit had never tried to take _back_ an electric attack before. Maybe he could use his ear as an antennae?

"T-try… try your tail… a Raichu's tail absorbs and dish out… electricity… a Pikachu's tail… could do that too… maybe… hurry." Kit said weakly.

Crit felt bad, he was hoping that stupid fake Spearow would leave them alone after this. He quickly stuck his tail into her soft fur. Half of him wanted to let go of the bars and just dig his face into the fluff, but the more logical part of him advised to make this quick. He quickly started trying to absorb the electricity. He wasn't sure if it was working, so all he could do was hope.

Kit blinked a few times and smiled, "Hey… I'm starting to feel a bit better…" she was able to get a better grip on the swing. "Hey! Here comes that Spearow again! Don't worry, I'm sure we can dodge it this time!"

The Pikachu nodded, and started swinging from side to side as he went from bar to bar, hoping to get the Spearow off their trail. "Just about 5 more bars and we'll be at the end." He said. His arms were getting tired, and they were about ready to let go.

"Don't let go!" Kit suddenly shouted as she wrapped her fluffy tail around him just before his paw slipped out of the swing. "I-I know you're tired… and because of me you used up a lot of energy… but we're almost there, just hang on!"

Her encouragement was really all he needed (Although he wasn't complaining about the soft tail) as he swung the last several feet, before dropping himself onto the floor of the wooden finishing platform, heaving heavily.

"There… we made it…" Kit said, panting a bit. "How… do you feel?"

Crit glanced at her, out of breath. "Tired." He said, while still trying to get his breathing down to normal.

It was then Venus came over to them, and Cella.

"You two are the slowest Pokemon ever." Cella said.

"So very thoughtful of you to say." Crit grumbled. He was tempted to say _You weren't carrying another Pokemon halfway across that mess you call a Trapeze_ but he didn't.

"So it seems you two are a bit slow…" Auro said, coming over to them. "But… you impress me with your teamwork."

Crit wanted to say something like _I try_ or _All in a day's work_ but he didn't want to look boastful in front of Mr. Auro, even though the exhausted Pokemon wished someone would say 'Good Job' or something.

"Good job, Cella and Venus. Your cruelty tactics are unmatched." He muttered quietly, only loud enough for Venus, Cella, and Kit to hear.

"Um… so now what?" Kit asked. "Do we do more training?"

"Yes, we also need to work on your attacks. But for now, you can rest and mingle while it gets set up." Auro said.

Kit groaned, "This is going to be a long day…"

* * *

**_DarkFoxKit: *was bandaging her nose* Why did you charge me into the spiky wall for!?_**

**_ConstructCritical: *head low* I-it's not my fault you installed it! You wouldn't let me have Baklava, so naturally I had to attack you. I mean, isn't that what all shiny Minccinos are supposed to do when they aren't allowed to have their Baklava? *shows Fox a magazine* See?_**

**_DarkFoxKit: You just scribbled on here that Minccinos want Baklavas. And you're the one who installed the spikes when Mew suggested what to add for a Mew Game! When did you get so crazy over a pastry anyway? I knew you had too much sugar!_**

**_ConstructCritical: *looks up from what he was doing* What was that? *continues stuffing his face with sugar*_**

**_DarkFoxKit: ….. Oh dear… *slowly gets some goggles and picks up an umbrella as if a huge storm is about to pour on her head.*_**

**_ConstructCritical: *eyes get really big and gasps* FOXFOXFOXFOXFOXFOXFOXOFOX! Guess what? YOU HAVE AN UMBRELLA! *grabs it* WEE! NOW I HAVE AN UMBRELLA! WOOOOOOOW! *runs around, knocking over furniture* WEEEE! FOX! I'M GOING FAAAAAAAAST~!_**

**_DarkFoxKit: I hate it when he gets sugar rush, as if he wasn't hyper enough as is already! …. Crit! DON'T TOUCH THAT 3DS! Don't break it!_**

**_ConstructCritical: FOXFOXFOXFOXFOX! You know what I've always wanted to do? Fly like a bird! *grabs Fox's paw and jumps out the window and starts flapping his arms and flies… for a few seconds...* WEEEE! LOOOK FOX! I'M FLYIIIIIIIIING!_**

**_DarkFoxKit: STOOOOP! WE CAN'T FLY! WAAAAH! *they faceplanted on the ground… or rather Fox did, Crit landed safely on top of her.* … Pain… need… hospital…_**

**_ConstructCritical: Sorry! I'm going to Mehico! Or however they pronounce it! *dashes off and is back a few seconds later wearing a Sombrero* FOXFOXFOXFOXFOXFOX! I had guacamole!_**

**_DarkFoxKit: …. I'm going to kill you._**

**_ConstructCritical: *eyes become normal* ...Fox? Uh, what happened to you? Oh, I just remembered! I have to go watch the latest episode of My Little Pony! You want some soda? No? Okay, uh, well, since you said you're going to kill me, I probably shouldn't call 911, so, uh, have fun! *starts walking away*_**

**_DarkFoxKit: …. FUUUUUUUUUUUUDGE!_**

**_ConstructCritical: What was that? YOU'LL MAKE FUDGE? YES! *calls 911* Yes, uh, a girl tried to jump out of her window and fly, but, she somehow broke a lot of stuff. She also is making me fudge. *they hung up* Uh… hello? Sorry Fox, guess they're too busy._**

**_DarkFoxKit: Please… someone… give me some medicine to make the pain stop!_**

**_ConstructCritical: Medicine, huh? Well… uh, nope, I don't have any. But I do have some baklava, if you're interested._**

**_DarkFoxKit: …._**

**_ConstructCritical: It's also out of date. So that means it has magical healing properties, right? *stuffs a bunch of baklava into Fox's mouth before she can protest*_**

**_DarkFoxKit: *starts choking before…* X_X_**

**_ConstructCritical: *checks for a pulse* … Well… uh… MEW! I FOUND A RANDOM PLUSHIE OUT HERE! Definitely not DarkFoxKit and if it was I didn't kill her… just like I didn't those last… six… ty… times..._**


	4. Chapter 4: The First Mission

**_DarkFoxKit: … Crit…? Why are you crying?_**

**_ConstructCritical: *is in the corner, sniffling* I-I'M NOT CRYING! I'm… just, well, I'm just… uh… I WAS STARING INTO A BRIGHT LIGHT!_**

**_DarkFoxKit: … I don't think that's the case. Come on, tell me what's wrong._**

**_ConstructCritical: *bursts out crying* I DON'T WANNA GO…! *hugs onto Fox's fur, sobbing loudly*_**

**_DarkFoxKit: Ah! *falls down at his sudden hug* O-okay, take it easy… What do you mean 'don't wanna go'? Where are you going?_**

**_ConstructCritical: Out of town. I'm leaving for awhile. I'll come back for a bit but then I'll have to leave again! I just wanna stay hoooome!_**

**_DarkFoxKit: Oh… I see… w-well don't worry, you'll come back before too long, right?_**

**_ConstructCritical: T-THEY HAVE BUGS! *shivers* I HATE BUGS! THOSE CATERPIES… AND WEEDLES… AND JOLTIKS! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! DON'T LET 'EM TAKE ME!_**

**_DarkFoxKIt: Waaaah! *she grabbed the camera as it went static.*_**

* * *

**Chapter 4: First Mission**

Team Evoshock worked hard to try and get better use to their bodies and how to use their attacks. Auro told them to attack a punching bag so they can get use to their attacks. Kit had to use her Tackle and Flail while Crit learn how to salvage his energy better and direct it with his Thundershock, and by watching his partner Tackle a lot, he ended up learning Quick Attack.

The classmates usually just do their own thing, they never talked much or interact with the other students. Cella would sometimes give them advice, but otherwise didn't say much to them, and Venus would try to flirt with Kit every now and then, but Crit would chase him off.

And soon… Auro made an announcement.

"We're doing our first mission today?" Kit spoke up, surprised.

"I thought we couldn't leave the stone building whats-its." Crit commented.

"We just call it the HQ, Crit." Auro sighed. "And even Training Rankers have missions, but they just don't go outside. Instead, we are to solve the problems of Pokemon and other teams _inside_ HQ. Somebody has to and it's the perfect 'practice' mission for Training Rankers like you two."

All of the Students nodded, well, except for Telek, he just sat there, sleeping. Crit walked over to him and whispered "Shadows are coming, we have to run." and he smiled mischievously.

Telek woke up, which was surprising because Crit had never seen him awake before. The Abra suddenly began teleporting like crazy! Going up, down, in front of Crit, behind him, and from corner to corner!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, buddy!" Crit yelled, trying to get the panicked Abra's attention, or curious Abra, or angry? He didn't know _how_ the Abra felt about being woken up.

Auro sighed as he held out his paw and said, "Enough!"

The Abra stopped suddenly and sat down.

Crit stepped back, a little freaked out by the constant teleportation. He finally sat down, hoping no one would get mad at him, but he was pretty sure that ship has already sailed.

The Vulpix chuckled, "Wow, way to go Pikachu, you just caused Telek to freak out."

"I've never seen Telek freaking out so much." the Pichu said, looking at the Abra curiously.

Kit sat beside Crit and said, "... Maybe you should cut the jokes right now…"

"I was just trying to wake him up." Crit said, shrugging, trying to look more confident than he felt.

"I heard that Abras are sensitive while they're sleeping. They still release some Psychic impulses in the air, so they're still aware even while asleep. You don't need to wake him up." Cella explained.

Crit kind of wanted to leave, so they could make fun of him when he wasn't there. The other students didn't know it, but he heard their whispering, namely _That stupid Pikachu…_ or _Wow, he's gonna be humiliated, oh wait, he already is!_ He also heard several students chuckling or full on laughing.

"H-hey!" Kit suddenly spoke up. "Stop talking about Cri-" She began, but not before Crit clamped her mouth shut with his paw. "Shh! They'll laugh at both of us if we don't keep quiet!" He hissed quietly.

Auro sighed and said, "That's enough, we're not here to poke fun at other's mistakes, we're here to do our part in the P.A.S. Now, since the other teams are always too busy doing field works, it's our job to maintain order in the HQ. We take jobs that would help troubled Pokemon or teams in here, even if it seems ridiculous or small like doing chores, it's just something we have to do. And it's good practice for learning the basic art of teamwork."

Kit pushed Crit's paw away from her mouth just as Cella asked, "So are we all going to take on one mission or do it separately?"

Auro answered, "We will split into teams of two. I will lead you to your missions and once you are finished, you are to come back here, understood?"

Everyone nodded in unison, even though the once-hyperactive Pikachu tried to make himself as small as possible.

So, Auro gave Team Evoshock their mission, he gave them a piece of paper. "Go to this location and the client will give you the details of your mission."

Since Crit could stand on two feet, he took the paper and read it, they were to go to Room 305 in the mountains part of the environment.

Crit nodded at the paper, as he heard some more chuckling as the Pokemon filed into their groups and left. He just grumbled and started walking out, motioning for Kit to follow.

The Eevee walked beside her Pikachu partner, when they were out of sight from the others, she spoke up, "Um… Are you embarrassed about what happened back there?"

Crit nodded, clenching his teeth and fists, his cheeks surging with electricity. He wanted a way to let it all out, but at the moment, he didn't have one.

Kit gulped, seeing how angry he is. She looked around for something and picked up a random trash on the floor. "Uh… if you want… you could dust this trash with your Thundershock…"

Before she could even finish her sentence, the trash had been completely obliterated, all that remained were a few indiscernible scraps.

"... I uh… guess it would take more than… a little scrap to make you feel better." Kit said hesitantly.

Crit shrugged. "I'll be fine. Let's just get this over with." He said, fists still clenched.

"R-right…" Kit just quietly followed.

They made it to the mountains and found the room they were looking for. They looked in to see three Pokemon and apparently they're a team. There was a Charmeleon, Luxio and Pupitar there.

"Uh… e-excuse us…?" Kit shyly spoke up to get their attention. "W-we are… h-here to a-answer a m-mission h-here?"

Crit nodded. "We really need to work on your peop-Err.. Pokemon skills." He whispered to her. "Can you help us out with our mission?" He asked the group.

The Charmeleon, presumingly the leader, nodded as he spoke up, "Yes, you see our supplies are rather low. It seems that someone's been ransacking all our supplies at night while we're asleep. Since we're always too busy with training and our missions, we were hoping a Training Rank team could help us find these little thieves."

Kit stayed behind Crit, since he's less shy he has to do the talking.

Crit nodded. "Can you give us the last known location of the thieves?"

Luxio nodded as he spoke up, "Last we heard, they're near the pond, but we're not really sure where they are exactly."

"P-pond?" Kit whispered to Crit. "Th-they could be Water types…"

"Relax, Kit. My attacks will be Super Effective against any fish we might face."

"B-but they could be underwater… and if that's the case… won't your electric attacks shock ME as well? Water CAN conduct electricity after all." Kit said timidly.

"You can't even really swim very well. If it's underwater it may be wise for you to stay on the surface." He told her.

"I think we HAVE to swim in order to find them…" Kit sighed.

Pupitar spoke up, "If it helps… I think one of them looked like a Squirtle wearing a sunglasses."

Crit nodded. "Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Crit and this is my friend Kit."

"That's all good, but if you don't mind, please hurry get those little thieves before our next supplies gets raided." Charmeleon said impatiently.

Crit and Kit left their room and the Eevee sighed, "Okay… so apparently teams of a higher rank couldn't care less about us Training Rankers… they just want us to get the job done."

Crit sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, but when we become Legends, we'll have a little talk with them on how Trainees are the future." He said, with his head held high, as he began to march to the pond.

Kit looked around the pond… she only saw peaceful Water Pokemon around though, none of them looked anything remotely like a thief. "... How are we supposed to find thieves? I'm sure they would hide themselves well."

"Remember, we're looking for Squirtles. With… sunglasses…"

"But we'd still have to FIND them." Kit pointed out. "And what if they take off their sunglasses? How would we tell if they're thieves or innocent Squirtles?"

The Pikachu thought for a second. "I know! We'll get a Berry from our own… house, and then carry it around, asking people to trade it for a different Berry. If we find some Squirtles, we'll offer it to them for a different Berry, if they try to steal it, we take them down." He suggested to her.

"... I suppose we could try that. Do you have any berries with you?" Kit asked.

Crit shook his head. "That's why I suggested we get one from the 'house'."

"Great… now we have to go _all_ the way back to our room… do you know how FAR away that is?" Kit grumbled.

"Hey, it's good exercise. We need exercise if we want to do well here." He defended. "Let's get going." Crit told her, and he started bounding back to their room.

Kit only groaned as they made their way back to their own room. She was mumbling about how much of a waste of time this was and wish they didn't have to go all the way back. But when they got there… their berry bushes were all gone!

"... WE'VE BEEN RAIDED!" Kit shouted.

"Hey look! They forgot one!" Crit exclaimed excitedly, looking at a small berry that had fallen on the ground during the rush.

"... That's just a little Oran Berry! Why would the thieves want a tiny Oran Berry when they have a whole BUSH of it!?" Kit cried.

"Because thieves always want more." Crit said, blandly, shrugging.

The Eevee sighed, "Fine, but this better work."

They head back to the pond, where they looked around. Kit pointed at someone, "Over there, Crit, I see a Squirtle… but this one doesn't have sunglasses, I guess it's time we test our theory."

"Hello over there! Would you like to trade berries with us?" He asked, holding up the Oran Berry,

The Squirtle looked over… it turns out this one was a female, she has a big green bow tied to her tail and she smiled a seductive smile at Crit. "My, aren't you a cute Pikachu?"

Crit wanted to see how Kit reacted to something. "You don't look too bad yourself." He said, smiling a little.

Kit looked at both him and the Squirtle in shock, not yet saying anything.

The Squirtle smiled even more, "Ooh, you're not shy at all, I like that. The name's Tidal… you know, as in Tidal Wave? What's yours, handsome?"

"A powerful name, for a powerful woman. They call me Crit." He said, pretending to eye her.

Kit suddenly grabbed Crit's ear and hissed, "What are you _doing_!? Are you actually flirting with _her_!?"

"Why do you care? Maybe I like her." He said, continuing to pretend he has an interest in her.

The Eevee's face turned a bit red and she glared, "You_ just _met her! And for all you know she could be a _thief_!"

The Pikachu feigned a gasp. "No! Not my Tidal-Widal-kins!" He shouted in mock horror.

Tidal crossed her arms and said, "Is there a problem? Oooh, does the little Eevee Weevee have a crush on the Pikachu?" she mocked.

Throwing shyness out the window, the angry and red faced Eevee stormed up to the Squirtle's face, "I am NOT a 'Weevee' and I don't have a _crush_ on anyone, but if you keep that up then I'll crush _you_!" she gritted her teeth threateningly.

"Okayyy, Kit. Calm down. I won't let you hurt…" Taking a glance a little disinterestedly at Tidal. "...Tidal."

Kit suddenly snatched the little Oran Berry from his paw with her tail and said, "Look, do you want to trade berries or not?" she said to the Squirtle with a snap. "Yes, it's a little small but it's still an Oran Berry!"

Tidal just made a clicking sound with her tongue and said, "I suppose an Oran Berry, no matter how small, could be quite useful… Alright, what do you want to trade it with, hmmm?"

"Got any Petri Berries?" Crit asked, any 'interest' in Tidal completely gone in his voice.

Tidal didn't seem to notice or just didn't care. "I'm afraid not… anything else?"

"Pecha Berry? Perhaps a Prism Berry? _Anything_?" Kit asked.

The Squirtle shook her head and said, "... How about this? You two give me the Oran Berry and I'll come right back with a good Lum Berry for you, it's a rare berry that heals all sickness and status alignments, what do you say?"

Crit nodded, without even consulting Kit, as she pouted a little. "Here you are. We'll wait right here." He said, handing her the Berry without a second thought.

Tidal smiled and said, "Good… I'll be back in an hour then." she smirked and jumped into the water, swimming away.

Kit sighed, "You do realize she's most likely _never_ coming back, right?"

Crit only gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah." Before diving into the water, letting loose a Thundershock that basically paralyzed everything in the pond, including Tidal, who was about to enter a warehouse looking place. Crit motioned for the Eevee to follow him, as he swam down to where Tidal was.

"CRIT! What was that for!? You just zapped _every_ Water Pokemon in this pond!" Kit snapped. "You better hope they don't call the authorities on you!"

"Okay, I guess you'd rather starve to death, along with everyone else in this giant rock?" He asked rhetorically, swimming to Tidal, snatching the Berry and swimming inside the warehouse.

"You're an idiot." Kit snapped, still angry. "Only a complete _brute_ would think like that!"

"Or someone who actually wants to live." He retorted. "Hurry up and stop falling behind, Kit."

"I'm not even IN the water! Because it's still full of static electricity! If I jump in I'll drown from paralysis you dolt!" the Eevee yelled from across the shore.

"Suit yourself. Goodbye, love!" He said, adding in that last part because he thought it would be funny to see her reaction.

Kit either didn't get it or was too angry to care, she just walked off somewhere else. "Numbskull… couldn't even try to get the Squirtle without resorting to immediate violence. We don't even know if that Squirtle really is a thief either and he just attacked her for no real reason. We're so gonna get in trouble for this!"

Meanwhile, Crit swam into the warehouse. It was practically filled with berries, all in fishing nets. "Jackpot!" He yelled, before sputtering with all the water getting inside his mouth. He quickly grabbed one of the smaller nets with berries and quickly swam for the surface.

Tidal suddenly retracted in her shell and spun it around, tackling the Pikachu from behind, making him lose precious air.

Crit started gagging, and rammed into Tidal using a Quick attack, before using it again to try to quicken his ascent. But Tidal wasn't willing to give up, she blew out Water Gun, which was far stronger from the pressure underwater and blasted the Pikachu into a wall, still underwater. Crit began choking from the lack of air and the water getting into his lungs. Soon he started seeing spots in his vision.

Tidal looked ready to attack again, when something caught her attention. She looked over to see a berry floating in the water. Temptation taking over, the Squirtle swam at the berry, carelessly taking it, however, that berry was attached to a string, which was tied to a certain Eevee's tail, who yanked the Squirtle out of the water.

"Gotcha~" Kit said as she used Tackle at the Squirtle's belly and it threw her right into a tree. The Eevee then pounced on her and looked her right in face. "Where's Crit?" she demanded.

Crit however, had already blacked out, still holding onto the berry net, as if it was his life source. However, another Water Pokemon was swimming towards him, and picking up his body before taking him somewhere.

"Probably drowning right now." Tidal smirked.

Kit's eyes widen, "WHAT!? CRIT! CRIIIIIIT!" she shouted.

Meanwhile, the mysterious Pokemon had taken Crit somewhere… The said Pikachu began waking up in an unfamiliar place.

"I think I'm seeing two of everything." Crit said, with a squiggly smile, before falling back into unconsciousness.

"Hmmm…" the mysterious Pokemon touched his cheeks and suddenly used an electric attack, immediately revitalizing and energizing the Pikachu.

"AH! Where are the berries?!" He exclaimed, and then seeing his paw still holding onto it, before realizing he was still underwater, and started holding his breath. _Oh no! I'm gonna drown! I'm never gonna see Kit again!_ He started saying to himself, making himself panic.

"Oh stop flailing around. If you were gonna drown you would've a long time ago. You're in a bubble, so you can breathe." the Pokemon said with a bit of a giggle.

Crit stopped flailing but held his breath until his face turned blue. Then he fell on his side and finally let himself breathe again realizing that the Pokemon was right. He was fine. "Who are you?" He asked the mysterious Pokemon.

"I'm someone who brought you and your partner here. But I'm afraid I can't tell you my name right now." the Pokemon answered.

"Partner?" He asked, confused.

"Yes, the Eevee girl that you seem to like so much." the Pokemon said with a giggle.

Crit raised an eyebrow. "O-Okay… I like her, now don't tell anyone!" He exclaimed in a harsh tone, a blush covering most of his face.

"I'm impressed that you'd admit that out loud, especially considering how you kept trying to convince yourself that you don't like her that way." the Pokemon said, flying around him.

"Well you seemed to know anyway, so I would have just embarrassed myself further if I tried to hide it." He said, his voice suddenly getting really small and quiet.

"Hmm…" the mysterious shadowy Pokemon came up closer to him. Crit's eyes widen when he got a glimpse of the Pokemon's face, which looked like a pink cute little cat with big blue eyes.

"W-WHA?! I'm dreaming! Yeah… I'm dreaming. Clearly." The Pikachu said, hitting himself with his fist. He looked up again. "... Are you… real?" Crit asked the pink feline hesitantly.

"As real as punching yourself in the face real." she answered, giggling. "I'll bet you could tell just what I am by now, right?"

"Mew." He said, trying to bow, but falling flat on his face, only to scramble up again into an awkward salute.

Mew gave him an amused smile and said, "Aww, thanks, you flatter me~ But anyway, don't tell anyone else you saw me here, they don't know I'm in here. I used Transform to see how the non-Shadow Pokemon are doing." then she floated around him. "It looks like you were in danger of drowning though… so I had to save you."

Crit nodded. "Sorry about that." He said, hanging his head low. "I guess I almost blew your cover."

"Nah, it's fine, it gave me the chance to use my Dragonair transformation!" Mew giggled happily. "Anyway, it seems you caught those little thieves, or at least one of them. Your friend managed to catch Tidal by using the bait and fishing strategy."

Crit nodded. "Mew… do you know about… humans?" He asked suspiciously.

Mew nodded, "Uh-huh! Of course I do! I was here when humans still existed around these parts~"

"Uh, do any… still exist?" He asked a little nervously now.

Mew thought about it for a minute and said, "Well… I hadn't seen any since the humans went extinct… but maybe there might still be some out there… surviving. It's been over a hundred years since humans went extinct and Pokemon became the dominate species of the Earth."

"Uh, Mew… I guess we both have a secret we need the other to keep. I'm not exactly… a… Pokemon…" He said bluntly, a little surprised at himself that he had the audacity to compare himself with _the_ Mew.

Mew crossed her arms and gave him a deadpanned look, "I know who you are. I just told you; _I'm_ the one who sent you and Kit here. I know you two were originally humans."

"So are we from the past? You know, if all humans are extinct by now?"

The pink legendary cat shook her head, "Actually, this is more like an alternate universe than the future. In your universe the humans thrive and work with Pokemon, however, in this universe, the humans died out and Pokemon took over. It's rather complicated really… but while I was fleeing from Shadow Pokemon, I accidentally used a powerful Psychic blast into the sky, so powerful it broke time and space, and you two were right in the middle of it and came here in the bodies of a Pokemon if you were born here as Pokemon."

The human-turned-Pokemon nodded, even though all these facts were making his head spin. "So what are we supposed to do then? Stay here forever?" He asked her, a little confused.

Mew sighed and said, "Well I could send you two back if you want… but… I realize that this is actually a blessing in disguise. You see… you and Kit are not the first cases to be humans that turned into Pokemon, there have been other cases before. One stopped a meteor from destroying the planet. Another defeated Dialga when he was growing crazy and saved Time itself. And there was another who stopped the Bittercold from destroying all of existence. So I believe that humans who turn into Pokemon were destined to save our world again."

"I think I may only have one more question. Shadow Pokemon. How much do you know about them?" Crit asked, curiosity rising in his voice a little.

Mew gave him a grim look and said, "... I know what started it all… You ever heard of a Pokemon called Mewtwo?"

"Vaguely. Some organization called Team Rocket created it, but he was some kind of experiment gone wrong, correct?"

Mew shook her head, "He's not just an experiment… he was actually 'perfect' in every way… what they didn't realize was that Mewtwo has a mind of its own… it's not just a mindless slave they can just order around, and Mewtwo himself didn't like the idea that he was just some human's toy they can make or break whenever they feel like it, so he went on a rampage and destroyed them. Or that's how the story went." she sat on the bubble. "... In this universe… Mewtwo was like a brother to me… he was the only one who could match my own power."

"And?"

"I think Mewtwo said something about checking a mysterious dark aura that was covering the sky lately… but… when he came back… he was not the same Mewtwo anymore. His color was much blacker and evil looking, his eyes were blood red and just his aura alone you could tell he was out for blood." Mew cringed just thinking about it. "I tried to stop him, really I did, but it's like his power was multiplied by thousands, I didn't stand a chance… Eventually though… Mewtwo began infecting other Pokemon with this strange black aura. Each one he infected turned into what we call Shadow Pokemon today. At first, they were just mindless monsters, killing machines really… but as the years passed, they started getting intelligent… and began forming teams, or hunting packs as we call them, and hunt down any Pokemon worthy of transforming into Shadow Pokemon, and it became an endless chase for almost all of us."

"And that's where Shadow Pokemon originated from? It wasn't even Mewtwo's fault. If anything, he was doing the right thing, he investigated something dangerous, trying to stop it." Crit said, trying to comfort Mew. "How long had Mewtwo been like this?"

"Today marks the 30th year since that dreadful day. This has been going on for 30 years." Mew said. "We've lost so many Pokemon… best friends and families turn into enemies, it was horrible… and it tore me apart. I've tried everything in my power to stop it, anything to change it back to normal, but nothing I do ever works. I was on the constant run since Shadow Mewtwo would do anything to turn me into a Shadow Pokemon too."

Crit nodded grimly. "Is there any way to reverse the effects that you have found?"

Mew shook her head, "If there was, I would've taken care of the out-of-control situation already. This is why I need your and Kit's help, I can't do this alone anymore."

"We'll help you. You're basically god, we can't say no to you." The Pikachu said enthusiastically, beginning to bounce around in the bubble excitedly.

Mew sighed, "I'm no god, but I thank you for helping me. Now I better get you back out there, your friend is worried about you. Be sure to pass this information to her, but nobody else, okay? I'll see you two later."

"Goodbye Mew! We won't fail you!" He said, starting to walk, only realizing he was stuck inside the bubble.

"Hee, hee, hee~ Maybe you should wait until you're out of the water." Mew giggled and used Psychic to teleport the Pikachu back on shore.

"Thank you." He said, only to realize that Mew had already left.

* * *

_**DarkFoxKit: *turns on camera* There… I think I fixed it… Sorry about that readers… my co-writer is having a breakdown because he's going out of town for almost a month…**_

_**ConstructCritical: *is off crying in another room***_

_**DarkFoxKit: Uh… so yeah… um… I guess we don't have much to say in this AN… so uh… while I go and try to cheer him up… why don't you readers go ahead and leave your reviews? Maybe that'll cheer him up.**_

_**ConstructCritical: *walks in* Hey, Fooooooooox~**_

_**DarkFoxKit: What? Are you finally finished crying your eyes out?**_

_**ConstructCritical: Sorta. Uh, I wanted to say bye.**_

_**DarkFoxKit: …. Uh… you're leaving now?**_

_**ConstructCritical: Yeah. *grabs some balloons* CYA! *flies away***_

_**DarkFoxKit: ….. Oooookay… well I'm sure he'll be back soon, until then, maybe I can get some peace and quiet for a few weeks-**_

_**Mew: Oooooh Fooooooooox~**_

_**DarkFoxKit: …. Fudge my life.**_


End file.
